Soviet Log 24
The Lizardmen Are Alright We picked things up near the end of the day by spending our daily block (thank you oh kind and merciful Arbiter for our one Gulag-block per day). Mei and Roq did some personal upgrades. Katya and Eva combined forces for a Military Intelligence block to put the nail in the coffin of Shift A's dreams. After a sustained campaign of economic sabotage, Shift A was reeling. We determined that one last push would likely put them over the edge so we set about pulling together all the seeds Katya had sown into a final master stroke. We succeeded in pulling it off but the benefits of completing this project were going to take some time to present themselves. It should also be noted that Shift A was suspicious of our efforts and had been trying to catch the perpetrator in the act but Katya had been to sneaky to get caught (or she thinks so, at least). During the night there was a shakedown. Luckily, some of us perceived the deception so we had enough warning to squirrel our gear away. Some chocolate changed hands in order to ignore certain items that were too bulky to hide. Overall, it seemed routine without any specific malice so we can probably expect more in future. The next day we descended back into the mine (only a little disappointed to not be immediately bumped up to Yard duty) and worked there until a disastrous opportunity struck. There was a cave-in that presented us with a choice. Should we allow ourselves to be trapped in the cave or should we choose the path that would allow us to return to the Gulag? After a split-second party vote we decided to land on the cave-side. Our thinking was that it would allow us time to explore deeper in the caves for a possible exit. In the meantime, being trapped in a cave-in was a great alibi. We delved deeper into the caves and encountered the Lizard Men again. This time, thanks to Mei Linn, we had a better understanding of their lore so we could tell that these ones were, in fact, feral Canyines (sp?). The feral ones were exiles and living barely above animal conditions. They weren't happy to see us and attacked (or did we attack? History goes to the victor, as they say). We engaged in combat and were very happy to see Mei Linn step up with her Narcolepsy spell and drop three of them - including the 'Alpha' within the first round. Meanwhile, Katya and Eva were holding the other entrance where they managed to kill one and scare the other two off. All that was left was for Roq to summarily execute two of the sleeping Canyines before we moved on (the third only survived due to party peer pressure). Almost as an afterthought, we searched the bodies and found a lizard-skin satchel with 7 scrolls. These scrolls were 'banishment contracts' with one for each of the feral Canyines signifying their banishment from civilized society. Soon after we encountered two more Canyines but these ones looked different. The best way to describe it was that they were more 'civilized'. Thanks to Mei Linn's lore we knew that civilized Canyines were known to be intelligent and thoughtful. We took the bold step of opening a dialogue which lead to an interesting twist in our adventure so far. After assuring themselves that we were not evil via Read Aura and luckily choosing Katya as their subject, the Canyines brought us to their city, Canyine. (Note: Katya also used Read Aura to determine they were 2nd-tier mages, with 100-150 mystic points, and Noble/Lawful) The city was looking pretty rough in an all-too-familiar way. Just as Stalingrad had been devastated by conflict, this city too, was showing the ravages of war. The Canyine leaders told us of a war with 'the Spiders' that was destroying their only remaining city. They used to have peace with the Spiders but something was forcing them up into Canyine territory. Unfortunately for them, speaking with the Spiders was forbidden by law so they were unable to end the conflict through negotiation. Seeing an opportunity, they asked us to help since we were not beholden to their laws. After a bit more digging, we learned that a Canyine had been arrested for speaking with the Spiders so we went to talk to her. She told us a story of love divided by species. She had accidentally met a Spider-boy when they were both young and an unlikely friendship had blossomed. At least until it was discovered and she was thrown into prison. We asked if she was willing to join us on our expedition to end the war and she agreed. We also learned that these Canyine had been here for a very long time worshipping their god. The fact that their god was now dead had not dissuaded them. The elder bone dust we'd seen being mined above was the ancient remains of their god. At times, they had even expanded to the surface and were responsible for some of the ancient quarry excavation up there. The Canyine leaders offered us three days to prepare for the peace party. They gave us each 10k worth of salvage and we immediately asked for training, as well. Their primary dealio seems to be magical so their city is a good source of magical training and items. Katya took the initiative to find the nearest shop where party bought Mystic Goggles and other things. We ended things there with three days of non-Gulag off-time (4 blocks per day) to prepare for a descent into the spider pits. Rewards 11 Generic Points 5 Generic Points - Story Bonus Achievement Unlocked: Reached the Lost City of K'Nya Katya with 4 Mystic Points and a BennyCategory:Soviet